The Meadows has lower unemployment (0.9%) than 95% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn The Meadows B+; getting around on foot earns it A−. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 31.0 in Miami. 32% of workers work from home, next to 16% for Florida as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in The Meadows
A lot of The Meadows works from home
32% of The Meadows workers work from home, against 16% across Florida. Time on the road ↓
The Meadows’ workforce skews older
38% of The Meadows’ working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
Commutes from The Meadows are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 28 across Florida. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Florida worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
What’s behind The Meadows’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, The Meadows is better than 70% of U.S. towns, #172 of 638 in Florida. Unemployment holds The Meadows’ grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (11.9%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, The Meadows could be anywhere from B− to A.
Commuting from The Meadows: about 23 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of The Meadows workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 948 commuters (the 32% who work from home are left out). Across Florida: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
What work there is in The Meadows: 556 jobs
556 jobs are based in The Meadows.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in The Meadows, 2013 → 2023: 469 → 556. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs The Meadows’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in The Meadows by day
On a workday 1,516 residents head out to work, 43 work right here, and 513 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,500 people are in The Meadows on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.36 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
17% of working residents work in Sarasota
Where The Meadows clocks in
17% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The distance from The Meadows to work
About 25% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The Meadows is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, The Meadows is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #224 of 638 in Florida. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.6% across Florida.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,401 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 58% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 14% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 64% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.0% of The Meadows households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of The Meadows’ commuters take a bus or train.
1,196th of 3,612: where The Meadows ranks among U.S. towns of 3,800 to 7,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Bay Hill FL | 4,512 | $128K | 0.7% | 1.5% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 139 | Vineyards FL | 3,849 | $131K | 2.5% | 1.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 187 | Neptune Beach FL | 7,020 | $119K | 3.1% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,194 | Waipio Acres HI | 5,332 | $95K | 6.6% | 5.1% | 0% | B+ |
| 1,195 | Pine Level AL | 4,170 | $93K | 5.9% | 3.8% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,196 | The Meadows FL | 5,492 | $70K | 11.9% | 0.9% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,197 | West Jefferson OH | 5,827 | $64K | 8.9% | 2.1% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,198 | Caledonia Township IL | 7,246 | $104K | 4.2% | 6.4% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,612 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of The Meadows, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Next door to The Meadows
The biggest share goes to Fruitville (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | The Meadows workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Meadows | – | B+ | A− | 23 min | $69,774 |
| Kensington Park | under 2% | A− | B | 25 min | $90,000 |
| Fruitville | 5% | B+ | B+ | 25 min | $82,246 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of The Meadows’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in The Meadows: questions
What is the median household income in The Meadows?
$69,774 (±$11,025) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in The Meadows?
11.9%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from The Meadows?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 32% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in The Meadows work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sarasota (17%, 5 mi), Fruitville (5%, 2 mi), Lakewood Ranch (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is The Meadows walkable?
The Meadows is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around The Meadows without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 14% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from The Meadows, from the people who make the trip.
More of The Meadows
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.